The mood in TUAW's secret underground bunker is electric as thoughts of tomorrow's media event float in our heads. New iPods? Probably. Something unexpected? Perhaps. The Beatles in iTunes? Who cares?Yeah, I said it. We have been covering the Beatles in the iTunes Store saga for over 3 years here at TUAW (3 years this month, actually. Clearly it is a sign from the Universe!), and I must admit I have never understood what all the fuss is about. Sure, I like the Beatles which is why I already own all their music, and I am sure most other Beatles fans do as well. Furthermore, the Beatles aren't some small, no name band. You can walk into any CD shop (new or used) or log onto any online purveyor of physical CDs and buy any number of Beatles albums which is why I find it so perplexing that every single rumor involving the iTunes Store and iPods always has something about the Beatles tacked on. It is as if the rumor sites don't think anyone will believe their wacky tales if there isn't a, 'Oh, and Steve's cousin's wife's best friend's college roommate has it on good authority that the Beatles are totally going to be on iTunes soon. Oh, and multi-touch Cinema Displays with built-in iSites are coming soon as well. Ringo loves his.'
Since when did the entire Mac community become obsessed with the Beatles?
Clearly, we all know that Steve is a fan which explains why their songs are often played at Apple events and show up in Apple screenshots, but I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't like at least one Beatles song (yes, this is where the contrarian out there comment about how they have a deep and abiding loathing for the Beatles. The comment form is right down there, fellows!).
Honestly, I have no idea why people have gotten themselves in such a froth over the possibility of the Beatles catalog becoming available on iTunes. If that is announced tomorrow it will the least exciting thing to come out of the event, unless of course this event turns out to be another iPod HiFi/Leather Case non-event.
I just hope we still won't be speculating about this when I'm 64 (you didn't expect this post could end without a lame Beatles joke, did you?).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
9-05-2007 @ 12:45AM
Oscar Boleman said...
I am happy, but somewhat disappointed that you didn't say ...(3 years this month, actually. Clearly it is a sign from ACROSS the Universe!)...
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9-05-2007 @ 12:46AM
fatsvernon said...
Two Words:
A-Men
'bout time somebody said it.
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9-05-2007 @ 12:50AM
Tim Luckey said...
I like the tags........lol!!!!!
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9-05-2007 @ 12:55AM
Nico said...
i dont like the beattles, and i dont give a sh*t about iTunes store, i live in chile (latin amercia) and we have a really bad apple experience.
had to get my macbook from a us apple store
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9-05-2007 @ 1:00AM
raymie said...
i hate the beatles.....i could care less if they're gonna on itunes or not
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9-05-2007 @ 1:01AM
Jake said...
People are excited at the prospect of remastered iTunes plus tracks.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:09AM
Eric said...
AGREED! Thankyou!
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9-05-2007 @ 1:10AM
Raul C said...
You wouldn't care less about The Beatles on iTunes, but Jobs sure does. It's one of his favorite bands. This is surely a battle he's been wanting to win for the longest of time and --apparently-- he's won it. Let him celebrate whatever he wants. It's his pocket money, not ours.
I bet that every Beatles fan out there --including me-- who really, really gives a crap about them already has their music on their iPods!! Don't we already have their CDs? I don't need to buy anything anymore if I've already got them at --literally-- CD-quality.
Let them rejoice whatever they want...
... oh, by the way, the Zune is now officially priced at $200. If tomorrow's announcement isn't good enough, I will --please forgive me, Mighty Finder-- buy one and run it through Boot Camp.
Ah, I just wanted to rant for a bit. Thanks for letting me open up, McNulty.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:18AM
Tim Moore said...
I wouldn't mind if my ripped Beatles albums could grab their artwork from the store, and in all honesty I don't have all of them yet. A $9.99 iTunes Plus offering would beat paying retail.
Not to mention that each new generation rediscovers the Beatles, and the younger ones are getting a lot of their music online.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:26AM
Levi said...
I already have every song The Beatles have done in my iTunes library... but I'd still be happy to see them on the store. I don't know why, but I would.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:28AM
Andrew Winder said...
Remember when U2 joined the iTunes store? They really went all out with it, having that huge pack of songs you could buy, and a lot of it was new material. I dont know how much unreleased beatles stuff there still is, but I'm sure if they get them on board, its not just gonna be that they slap up their collection on the itunes store, not with how much Steve loves them. I could definitely see a lot of sweet material coming out of a deal like that, and thats why Beatles fans are excited.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:28AM
Joey Lange said...
hate to be troll-ish, but raymie, the proper usage of the phrase is
"i couldn't care less"
saying you could care less implies that you still hold some caring for the situation.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:40AM
James said...
The Beatles on iTunes is just symbolic: it means your "format" has truly hit mainstream. I think we all forget that digital downloads, while common to many, are still fancy voodoo magic to many more. So yeah it has no real excitement value but it represents a milestone for the iTunes store and digital distribution in general.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:46AM
divigation said...
I will continue the sentiment, thanks for saying it. I have posted it to many forums when the events come up and everyone starts to buzz about the completely useless event of the Beatles joining iTS, who cares. I love the Beatles, I have every release they made with the exception of the Christmas singles, so why would it matter if they were added to the iTS, so I could download poor quality, DRM restricted versions of albums I have owned for the bulk of my life? It is ridiculous that this is of any note what so ever. "But it is a hole in the catalogue..." Yes, one of many iconic groups that are not in the iTunes collection. I want new iPods and amazing redesigns and great new functionality and higher capacity and who cares if a group of albums that all of us who care already own are added to the collection.
So thank you for your post. I would really like to see the Beatles added to the collection just so that everyone will shut up about it and we can sit around dreaming about the new gear for the next event instead of a completely meaningless addition of albums.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:56AM
jon freibourn said...
I have a deep and abiding loathing for the Beatles.
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9-05-2007 @ 2:31AM
fishing4444 said...
the main thing is.. they didn't really record that much music. and as you mentioned , their fans already have it. I love my all white vinyl version of the White album and my Sgt. Peppers Vinyl Picture Disk.
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9-05-2007 @ 2:32AM
Chris Welch said...
Do some research.
The Beatles being on iTunes would signify that the re-mastering of their entire catalog by producer George Martin is finally complete.
I could care less about them hitting the iTunes store. I haven't bought anything from iTunes in well over a year.
But I'm sure many Beatles fans alike are excited for the physical re-releases of all of these classic albums and the fact that they will sound better than ever.
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9-05-2007 @ 2:37AM
Ken said...
When you open a store, you don't only need a large collection. You also need to offer some of the biggest names.
The Beatles is just that... one of the biggest names of all times. Plus, there's been a lot of talking about "Apple" and the dispute between the two sides. The Beatles in Apple iTunes store would be the ultimate sign of peace between them.
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9-05-2007 @ 3:24AM
Mark Thomas said...
Beatles haters, being inherently naive, invariably love music that is derivative of the Beatles but are too ignorant to realize it. They're a lot like Windows users who love Windows more the more Mac-like Windows gets, but insist that they hate Macs.
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9-05-2007 @ 3:30AM
Dezro said...
It's a big deal because of the Apple Computer / Apple Records history.
You know, Sosumi?
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